A nice read on a lazy summer’s day. 
I just finished my education – so they say. I got my cap and gown and the applause of the wishful thinkers. I’m renowned with a newly donned respect, discreet nods, and knowing looks from people who used to just pass me by on the street.
Anyway I got to thinking about my newly acquired status and tried to figure out where it comes from. It can’t have been the books because I’ve been walking around with them for what seems like ages and it can’t be the knowledge I’ve acquired because that’s mostly tucked away somewhere behind my subconscious. So I came to the conclusion that it must be the hat.
Now a strange sort of hat it is. It certainly isn’t something that could be worn to a wedding, a conference, a party, or even to the supermarket – it’s a one-off affair – worn once with great ceremony and then promptly discarded. Not exactly something that signifies the passage of time, the acquisition of vast amounts of knowledge, and the pioneering spirit of discovery and conquest! No, it’s simply discarded, or what worries me further is it is often rented for that special day. Now that puts a whole new light on the commitment and permanence that should be associated with education in our scientific, technologically advanced civilization. Hmm, the pivot point of learning, education, heritage, a symbol…rented?
So if it’s not a part of our vital living structures of breathing moving life – then what’s it for? You see, let me explain my confusion. I feel I’ve learned all about the sea – I mean – biology, oceanography, tides, wind, and all that. I’ve learned about the dangers to the environment – the alarming rate of air and water pollution, more and more animal and plant species becoming extinct, and the misuse of technologically advanced fishing techniques that make tons of money but which are also depleting the oceans of more and more fish and wildlife. I love fish and I don’t mean for dinner. But all I seem to be learning about are problems along with a few band aid remedies that man turns to in order to lighten his conscience.
But I’m left standing helpless at the sheer magnitude of modern man’s institutionalized greed and monopoly. Then I wonder where I fit into the scheme of all this. Which part of the wheel of man’s wondrous wheel of whirling frantic fits of power play will I be expected to fill? My education has molded me to fit into a cog, but even if I do fill some part of the mechanisms of modern life, who will benefit?
Let’s say I become an oceanographer – who’ll benefit - the fish? No! Drift nets will still be cast even though I stomp and rage and shout ‘Immoral! Irresponsible!’ What about the people who live and work on the sea? Don’t think so – they form another part of that wheel of modern life – just like me; serving a higher purpose – now how does it go? Truth, liberty, justice for…… anyway something like that…
What about the businessman – I don’t mean the guy who owns the local fish shop. I mean those massive multi-national companies that own everything from governments, to islands, to seas, to education, to you and me…
Yeah, they’re the ones who will benefit from my education, research, and know-how and then they’ll be able to better plan how and where to cast their nets. Maybe it’s them that rents the hats…..Now that, let me tell you, leaves me wondering what I should do.
It’s not just me though. People in many places throughout the world are molded, trained, and dare we say ‘brainwashed’ into honestly and sincerely believing that Western education is the only authentic developed holistic form of education in the then and now of the world. And with an air of self righteous indignation, strive with a superior humanitarian broad smile to spread this thinking, or should I say impose this system of learning on the rest of the world – hats and all…
And it’s not just me that feels overwhelmed and at a loss of how to serve mankind in a system that buries nuclear waste and then builds houses on top of it – leaving it for hundreds of future generations to deal with or should I say, die from; legitimizes extortion in the form of over taxation; provides justice only for those who can afford a ‘good’ lawyer who has been trained to make truth look like falsehood and vice versa; offer medical services to the rich and experiment on the poor – need I go on to explain why I look at my square hat and wonder why it’s a part of the ceremony of learning?
The fact that it has to be twisted and turned to one side makes me wonder. Now could it be that this movement symbolizes the twisting of our logic to condone mass destruction of the environment, of nations, of people in the name of freedom and liberty? Does it symbolize turning us away from our own essential humanity?
The answers to this and more should be easy for someone as educated as me to answer. I should know the answers, shouldn’t I?